Max Verstappen says the new Madring F1 circuit is "probably a car killer" with several drivers expecting a disruptive Spanish Grand Prix weekend. The close proximity of the walls at the high-speed track, which includes a big banked corner in the middle sector, was the big talk of the paddock on Thursday. It means Friday's practice sessions at 12.30pm and 4pm, live on Sky Sports F1, will be more important than usual so the drivers can get up to speed around the challenging circuit.
For me, what I feel while driving, it's a little bit the same kind of sensation that I get sometimes around Jeddah in places," said Verstappen. "Of course, Jeddah is faster on average with the corners, but the walls are quite similar in how they are positioned. I think when F3 were testing here there were a lot of shunts, so it's not an easy track, easy to make a mistake also with the layout of the track.
The kerbs that are there, we need to run over a few of them, and that's normally not the strong point of our car, but we will try to do the best we can." Asked if it was a car killer, Verstappen added: "It probably is a car killer from what I've seen so far but you just need to try and stay out of the walls and try to get the best possible feeling in the car. When you're confident in the car on a street circuit it helps a lot." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Last month, a two-day Formula 3 test took place at the Madring and there were 19 red flags, mostly for crashes at several areas of the track. Williams' Carlos Sainz, who has given some input into the circuit design, says the track is "different to what we're used to".
"Realistically speaking, it's going to be now tomorrow in FP1 when we really know what this track is all about. And I'm going to say it looks different," he said. "It looks that the track has character, that it's charismatic, with a lot of different kinds of corners." Qualifying is expected to be pivotal due to the difficulty of overtaking as most corners only have one racing line, so the drivers will be keen to push the limits come Saturday afternoon, even if it means taking huge risks.
Last week's shock pole-sitter Pierre Gasly believes it will create "huge adrenaline" for the drivers. "The track layout is something I've never seen before. You have these crazy corners, blind corners, a huge banking," said the Alpine driver.
"It took me a few laps in the sim to get my head around what's where. It's very challenging because everything is twisty. I expect a really hectic weekend with lots of disruption and mistakes and we will have to make sure we are on the right side of it." It will be particularly important for the championship contenders to keep out of the barriers so they don't lose big points to their rivals.
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